The invention relates to an out-processing facility for individual or piece goods, comprising:                a storage area having a plurality of storage passages, for items to be out-processed, extending parallel to one another therein,        a loading area at one end of the storage passages with means for in-loading new items into the storage passages, and,        an out-processing area at the other end of the storage passages with removal apparatus for computer-controlled transfer of individual items out of the storage passages onto downstream conveyor devices.        
Warehouse order-processing technology is gaining importance in all fields of commerce and in particular in the wholesale foods industry. However, warehousing in its narrower sense (i.e., static storage of individual goods) is becoming less significant while the dynamic processes and especially turn-around handling of goods is gaining importance. The goal of modern warehousing is therefore to keep the retention time of the individual goods in the warehouse to a minimum and thus to keep to a minimum the amount of capital tied up in warehousing.
Known out-processing facilities are multi-story racks that constitute storage passages for the individual goods and that are arranged adjacent to and above one another. The floors of the passages are provided with roller conveyors made of freely rotatable rollers and are slightly inclined so that goods warehoused at one end of the passage, the so-called stocking or loading side, move along the roller conveyors to the other end of the passage, the removal or order-processing side. Placing the individual goods into position on the stocking side is generally done manually in that the individual goods are removed from a pallet and placed into the assigned passage. Order-processing at the removal side of the racks is also frequently performed manually, although out-processing facilities having mechanically operating, separately controllable removable devices are also already known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,915,566 and 4,527,937.
Furthermore known are computer-controlled drivable removal devices in the form of conveyor devices that can be driven in a passage arranged on the order-processing side of the rack and that, corresponding to the order, take the individual goods maintained in-stock in the individual passages and assemble the order. The conveyor devices used for this can be driven over corresponding guides in two coordinates so that each conveyor device can access individually each of the passages arranged adjacent to and above one another.
The object of the invention is to provide an out-processing facility with which high turn-around rates can be achieved and which is also suitable for simultaneous processing of goods that are very different in terms of weight and size.